The present disclosure is related generally to the field of dental treatment. More particularly, the present disclosure is related to methods, devices, and systems for bite setting digital dental models.
Many dental treatments involve repositioning misaligned teeth and changing bite configurations for improved cosmetic appearance and dental function. Orthodontic repositioning can be accomplished, for example, by applying controlled forces to one or more teeth over a period of time.
An example of orthodontic repositioning that can occur can be through a dental process that uses positioning appliances for realigning teeth. Such appliances may utilize a thin shell of material having resilient properties, referred to as an “aligner” that generally conforms to a patient's teeth but is slightly out of alignment with the initial tooth configuration.
Placement of such an appliance over the teeth can provide controlled forces in specific locations to gradually move the teeth into a new configuration. Repetition of this process with successive appliances in progressive configurations can move the teeth through a series of intermediate arrangements to a final desired arrangement.
Such systems typically utilize materials that are light weight and/or transparent to provide as a set of appliances that can be used serially such that as the teeth move, a new appliance can be implemented to further move the teeth.
With computer-aided teeth treatment systems, an initial digital data set (IDDS) representing an initial tooth arrangement may be obtained. The IDDS may be obtained in a variety of ways. For example, the patient's teeth may be scanned or imaged using X-rays, three-dimensional X-rays, computer-aided tomographic images or data sets, magnetic resonance images, etc.
A cast (e.g., a plaster cast and/or mold) of the patient's teeth may be scanned using a laser scanner or other range acquisition system to produce the IDDS. The data set produced by the range acquisition system may be converted to other formats to be compatible with the software which is used for manipulating images within the data set, as described herein.
After scanning, computer models of teeth on an upper jaw and a lower jaw may be generated. However, these models may not be aligned with respect to each other. Thus, a bite setting operation may be performed to align the digital dental model including the upper and lower jaws.